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Path through a bamboo thicket. (Photo by R. Butler)
Role of Developing Nations in Rainforest Conservation
Increasingly, developing nations are adopting environmental plans both to look good in the eyes of international
financing organizations, and in finally realizing the adverse affects of deforestation for their own economies
and peoples. In 1996, Mexico announced its first national environmental program aimed at saving the last remaining
10 percent of its forests. Other countries have initiated such projects, but still a fair number are quite ecologically
backwards. Malaysia, which claims to have the best conservation program in Southeast Asia, recently appealed a
high-court decision that tried to hold up construction of a huge hydroelectric project in Bakuin, Sarawak (Bornean
Malaysia). The court decided that the dam construction company, Ekran, must comply with regulations established
by Malaysia's Environmental Quality Act of 1974—which holds that Malaysian citizens have the right to examine
and comment upon environmental studies before construction. The Malaysian government appealed this decision to
Malaysia's Court of Appeals so the hydroelectric project could proceed as quickly as possible.
A lack of judicial independence is frequently cited as a major concern for investors in developing countries. When
the executive branch or the military has virtual control over the judicial system, constitutional laws can become
meaningless and basic rights may be ignored. Laws are not meant to be flagrantly violated by politicians and
their associates at the expense of the people, the environment, and less well-connected business interests.
Developing governments have several ways they can better protect their forest environments for the future. Eliminating
subsidies for activities that promote forest clearing and largely benefit wealthy private interests would probably
have the widest-ranging effect on curbing deforestation in the tropics. For example, ending subsidies for sawmills,
road construction, massive colonization schemes, and expansive agricultural projects would dramatically slow deforestation.
Such large subsidies create a false image of profitability to industries that benefit from exploitation and undervalue
the worth of timber supplies and intact ecosystems. Rarely do these firms realize the full costs, whether they
be environmental, social, or financial. Leaders of these firms are a formidable roadblock to forest policy reform,
since they are generally politically favored. Developing governments could significantly reduce deforestation by changing
land-title procedures so deforestation is not favored over the maintenance of productive forest. Instead of giving
tax breaks and subsidies to large-scale forest clearers, governments could levy a deforestation tax that would
increase government revenues while reducing environmental degradation. Such a plan of action would have a tremendous
impact in countries like Brazil and Malaysia where large plantation owners and cattle ranchers are responsible
for substantial forest loss.
Corruption
Corruption and illegal operations are quite costly for governments. The World Bank estimates that illegal logging alone costs developing countries some $15 billion a year in lost tax revenues.
Rooting out corruption and implementing the rule of law are key to conservation efforts as well as the general business environment in developing countries. Corrupt officials in forestry departments and other branches of law enforcement can easily undermine conservation efforts by granting parkland to unscrupulous developers and overlooking violations of environmental laws and safeguards.
Transparency in economic transactions and processes is key to reducing corruption in developing economies. Small steps such as publishing bids for contracts, clarifying ownership and the transfer of ownership, posting laws to allow citizens to better understand the economic and legal processes, and creating a forum for airing complaints can do a lot for building a fairer and less corrupt society.
Nine out of the world's ten most corrupt countries in 2005 were tropical developing countries. The list from Transparency International: (most corrupt) Bangladesh, Chad, Haiti, Myanmar, Turkmenistan, Côte d'Ivoire, Equatorial Guinea, Nigeria, Angola, and Democratic Republic of the Congo (tenth most corrupt).
Currently, few fines are collected and those that are collected get "lost" before the forest ministry
ever sees them. Salaries are so low in some countries that bribes are widely accepted by forestry officials. Governments can also increase the effectiveness of forestry patrols by offering performance incentives to officials and returning proceeds from fines and seized goods to the forestry departments.
There are serious conflicts of interest within government departments in many developing countries. Environmental
officials often lack coordination with officials from other departments like mines, forestry, and agriculture,
which hand out permits for forest clearing and logging without consideration for the ecological effects. What is
needed is an integrated policy approach to overcome the inefficiencies and failures of overlapping jurisdictions.
Frequently, a well-placed bribe can get a plantation owner or timber baron a large tract of supposedly protected
forest. Other developers take a different approach: acquiring political ties. The economic circle of the elite in Indonesia
was notorious for its ties to former president Suharto, who allowed reforestation funds to be allocated for all
types of projects completely unrelated to forest preservation and reforestation.
Developed countries are tired of the rhetoric from wealthy developed
countries urging them to preserve forests but not coughing up the cash to turn words into action. They argue that
if these forests provide important global benefits then the entire world should contribute to their preservation.
Besides, they say, wealthy countries have already destroyed most of their own forests.
Deforestation emissions should be shared between producer and consumer, argues study
(11/19/2009) Under the Kyoto Protocol the nation that produces carbon emission takes responsibility for them, but what about when the country is producing carbon-intensive goods for consumer demand beyond its borders? For example while China is now the world's highest carbon emitter, 50 percent of its growth over the last year was due to producing goods for wealthy countries like the EU and the United States which have, in a sense, outsourced their manufacturing emissions to China. A new study in Environmental Research Letters presents a possible model for making certain that both producer and consumer share responsibility for emissions in an area so far neglected by studies of this kind: deforestation and land-use change.
Oil palm workers still below poverty line, despite Minister's statements
(11/19/2009) On October 19th, Plantation Industries and Commodities Minister Tan Sri Bernard Dompok told parliament that oil palm harvesters and rubber tappers are living above Malaysia's national poverty line, according to a story in the Malaysian Insider. But now representatives of the workers are saying Dompok lied.
Coastal habitats may sequester 50 times more carbon than tropical forests by area
(11/16/2009) Highly endangered coastal habitats are incredibly effective in sequestering carbon and locking it away in soil, according to a new paper in a report by the IUCN. The paper attests that coastal habitats—such as mangroves, sea grasses, and salt marhses—sequester as much as 50 times the amount of carbon in their soil per hectare as tropical forest. "The key difference between these coastal habitats and forests is that mangroves, seagrasses and the plants in salt marshes are extremely efficient at burying carbon in the sediment below them where it can stay for centuries or even millennia."
DNA uncovers nearly extinct Siamese crocodiles in captivity
(11/15/2009) The Critically Endangered Siamese crocodile, once believed to be extinct in the wild, received some uplifting news this week. DNA testing of 69 rescued crocodiles at Phnom Tama Wildlife Rescue Center (PTWRC) in Cambodia found 35 purebred Siamese crocodiles.
New report: boreal forests contain more carbon than tropical forest per hectare
(11/12/2009) A new report states that boreal forests store nearly twice as much carbon as tropical forests per hectare: a fact which researchers say should make the conservation of boreal forests as important as tropical in climate change negotiations. The report from the Canadian Boreal Initiative and the Boreal Songbird Initiative, entitled "The Carbon the World Forgot", estimates that the boreal forest—which survives in massive swathes across Alaska, Canada, Northern Europe, and Russia—stores 22 percent of all carbon on the earth's land surface. According to the study the boreal contains 703 gigatons of carbon, while the world's tropical forests contain 375 gigatons.
